Fresh air

I tried to get comfortable on the chair but it seemed almost impossible. Not with everyone staring at me. But I couldn’t blame them, I was sitting there, all alone.

“Five more minutes and if she isn't here by then, I’ll go home,” I mumbled to myself. Autumn Aurora was supposed to meet me here at Sugarcube Corner at two PM. I took another sip of my milkshake. I knew that we were just going to meet up here and then go to her place, but if I just waited and didn’t order I would have seemed like an arsehole. I looked at the clock on the wall
“Two thirty, that’s it I’m going home,” I left a couple of bits and rose from the table. On my way out I tried to put as little weight as possible on my right hoof, and I could only mentally prepare for those few steps outside. Climbing them was horrible and knew that going down would only be worse.
I walked out of the open door and looked down. It was only two steps. “You can do this,” I told myself.
I might have overreacted but at the time, it seemed worse than it was.
I started with my left, healthy hoof and then the right. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Even with the weight of being pulled down. If I could have levitated myself down it would have been easier. But even skilled unicorns have a hard time at that, and I only knew two spells, levitation and a spell that detects grammatical errors… It isn't the most effective spell.
I managed to get down without too much pain but I still reminded myself to get some painkillers for bedtime. Getting comfortable with a gash in the right hoof isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Not that it sounds easy but you know what I mean!

I kept my head low with my eyes on the ground, I didn’t want to step on something and slip. It wasn’t long until I bumped my head into something. Perfect.
“Excuse me..” I lifted my head and met a pair of purple eyes behind glass. I took a few steps back. The pony was a young mare. She had a beautiful blue coat to match her eyes, her mane was a bit strange though.

“Don’t worry about it,” She smiled, orange locks of hair fell down over her glasses, she blew them away. She obviously needed to visit the hairdresser. That mane was a mess. “It was my fault, I should have seen where I was going.” She chuckled nervously.

I hesitated with speaking at first but decided that I should say something. “I should be going.” I walked around her, tried to keep a straight face and thought to myself ‘These ponies, I swear…’

“Wait!” C’mon... I stopped and turned around. She smiled nervously and it looked like she was sweating a bit. “Are you Creepy Quill?”

I was taken aback. Wait, was she Autumn Aurora? I stammered “Y-yeah..” I must have been looking like one big question mark.

“I’m so sorry! I was so caught up in my research! It’s a new moon tonight and that’s always my favourite time in the cycle because the stars are more visible, the moon blocks a whole lot and the light coming from it kind of makes some fade so it’s the perfect day for observing Y’know?” She sounded a lot more sciency than that, but that's all I can recollect.
“I came as fast as I could, I’m Autumn Aurora.” She held out a hoof for me to shake. Hesitantly I shook it carefully.

“All forgiven.” I think my fake smile was convincing enough because she seemed to relax a bit. I had to be friendly and make a good impression, she was going to be my future roommate after all. “Shall we go then?”

Her eyes widened for second, “Uh, yes! Let’s, just fair warning, though, the place is a mess, I didn’t have time to clean up.” That nervous smile again.

“I’m sure I’ll manage, I am from the suburbs after all.” I fake chuckled. She repositioned her glasses and nodded. “Is it far?” I asked and gestured my chin towards my bandaged hoof.

Her eyes darted to it. “Oh, um, not at all.” She said while shaking her head slightly. “But if it get’s too much I could always carry you.” A shallow laugh. She blushed a bit, but I don’t think she noticed herself.

I simply nodded and gestured for her to lead the way.

It wasn’t that far, but enough for me to almost accept the offer for her to carry me. She looked strong enough, I guess it’s because she’s an earth pony, they almost always have stronger muscles than pegasi and unicorns. They sometimes have more muscle than even the royal guards.

Autumn Aurora breathed in. “We’re here.”

The house didn’t look like much. Just a bit bigger than String Chimers. Autumn lead me to the front door and held it open for me.

There were books everywhere! I hadn’t seen such a large collection of textbooks since the field trip to the royal library with my old class in second grade! She instantly removed some from the table and couch and then went out into the kitchen. I stood in the middle of the room and waited. I considered moving to the armchair but decided against it, since that would be bad manners.

She poked her head through the open doorway to the kitchen, “I only have chamomile, is that alright?” She asked hastily. “Oh, and please sit down.”

“That’ll do just fine.” Honestly, I don’t care much for tea, hot drinks in general actually. But it would be impolite to reject an offer.
I sat on a free spot on the light brown couch and looked around the room. The collection of books was enormous for one pony, they all had titles about astronomy.

A few minutes passed until Autumn Aurora returned with a tray with cups, a small bowl of sugar and a teapot on top. She placed it on top of a book about nebulae, poured the tea and then sat down on the armchair opposite me. “I heard you came to town with your sis’?” She wanted to break the ice obviously.

I took a careful sip of my tea and placed the cup down again, “Yes, just yesterday. My parents decided that I should get out of Canterlot for a while.” I smiled, even though I wanted to frown. I thought about how parents shouldn’t have decided for me, but it all went better than expected, no I kind of want to thank them.

“So uhm, what do you work with?” She tried to keep eye contact, I got the notion that she doesn’t meet new ponies often.

I remained silent a bit to think, I didn’t want her to think that I was a lazy, “Well, I spent most of my time working on a collection of short stories and essays.” I thought back to my school time again, the teacher would sometimes read my essays to the class, as an example. I was a straight-A student. “What do you work with?” I asked out of courtesy.